• by Wayne Friedman , June 9, 2022

Amidst a rapidly changing business entertainment environment, Walt Disney is making a major dramatic shift among its most senior-level television entertainment executives.

Reports say Bob Chapek, chief executive officer of Walt Disney, quickly dismissed Rice. No reason has been given by the company for his exit.

Rice -- who has been in the job just under two years -- was named chairman of the unit in November 2020 as part of an overall massive restructuring of Disney entertainment operations. He was in charge of producing television content for all Disney networks, digital, and streaming platforms.

This came months after Disney bought half of Fox Corp. TV and movie operations for $71 billion -- a deal that closed in March 2019. Rice had been a long-time senior-level television executive at Fox, as had Walden.

There were few complaints about Rice's work, according to reports, but at his ouster this week, he was told he was not a good “fit”.

Rice's departure at Disney comes after he signed a new multi-year contract late last year.

Walden will have oversight of ABC Entertainment, ABC News, Disney Branded Television, Disney Television Studios, Freeform, FX, Hulu Originals, National Geographic Content and Onyx Collective.

Before he came to Disney, Walden was chairman/CEO of Fox Television Group, which included Fox Broadcasting Company, 20th Century Fox Television, Fox 21 Television Studios, Fox Consumer Products and the syndication supplier, 20th Television.

Walden will report directly to Chapek.

Chapek assumed the CEO role at Disney in February 2020, when he took over for Bob Iger.